


Height

by CaseyJ0nes



Series: Huey Week 2020 [1]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Della Duck Mentioned - Freeform, Gen, Huey Has a Temper, Huey Week 2020, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25097053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaseyJ0nes/pseuds/CaseyJ0nes
Summary: Every year Donald measures the boy's heights and every year it's the same result, they're exactly the same. This year, however, the results aren't quite what Huey's expecting.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Huey Duck, Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck
Series: Huey Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817638
Comments: 4
Kudos: 118





	Height

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Huey Week 2020 on Tumblr, the first prompt was Height and I didn't know how to write about long-legged Huey so y'all get this instead <3

“Why is Donald still measuring all of us, we haven’t been different heights like, ever.” Louie frowned, obviously trying to get out of the five minutes it would take to make three identical marks on one of the house boat’s doorframes.

It was exactly halfway between their eleventh and twelfth birthday and Donald insisted on measuring their heights on the same day every year.

“Louie it only takes five minutes, just do it.” Huey told his youngest brother. He was already standing next to the door frame to be measured first.

“I’m just saying, we could just measure Dewey three times and get the same results.” Louie stuffed his hands into his hoodie pocket but stood next to Dewey anyway as Donald came back with a marker.

“Okay, stand up straight.” He informed Huey, who took off his hat and straightened his shoulders.

Donald flattened out the feathers on top of Huey’s head and made a mark an inch above the mark from last year, writing Huey’s first initial next to the line.

Huey stepped away and looked back up at Donald just in time to see him beginning to tear up at the sight of the height difference. He let out a sigh as he put his hat back on.

“Uncle Donald, remember the promise about waiting to cry until after we’re finished?” Huey reminded their uncle, and he sniffed deeply, nodding his head.

“Okay, Dewey, you’re next.” Donald said through a thick voice. Huey moved to sit at the breakfast bar to be out of the way while his brothers were measured.

“Actually, can I go last, Uncle Donald?” Dewey asked. “I’ve got a good feeling about this year. I think it will be a real showstopper and I wouldn’t want Louie to get forgotten in the moment.”

Donald was left surprised as Louie rolled his eyes.

“Oh yeah, of course you wouldn’t want that to happen.” He said dryly, but still made his way over to the door frame. He made a show of straightening out of his annoyed hunch, hands dropping out of his pocket and to his side as he straightened out.

“Louie, stand up straight.” Donald informed him just for the youngest duckling to let out a huff.

“I _am_ standing straight, uncle Donald.”

“Oh.” He heard Donald say and narrowed his eyes up at his uncle while Huey looked on in confusion.

The sound of the marker scratching against wood sounded around the room and as soon as Donald moved his hand away Louie whipped around to look at the marks. Sitting just over a centimetre below the mark next to Huey’s initial was a brand-new mark, ink still wet. Dewey leaned over Louie’s shoulder to see it, his own eyes wide as well and heard the creaking of Huey’s seat as he stood up on it to see the mark on the wall.

“Wait-” Louie started before doing a double take. “What?”

“I’m finally taller!?” Huey asked cheerfully before he caught sight of the torn expression on Louie’s face. He quickly sat back in his seat, schooling his expression into a sympathetic smile. “I mean, not that it matters. Heights can fluctuate, after all. I imagine that we’ll be the same height again by our birthdays.”

Louie’s frown turned to a scowl as quick as he heard the words. “Oh, don’t pretend you’re not ecstatic that you’re finally taller than us.” He bit out in a dry tone, his shoulder’s slouching once more as he shoved his hands back into his pocket. 

“Well, I mean, we don’t _know_ that he’s taller than me yet.” Dewey chimed in before Huey could reply and the oldest triplet’s eyes went to his immediate younger brother. The expression on Dewey’s face was almost smug, and Huey narrowed his eyes in response, growing suspicious of Dewey’s sudden decision to go last.

“Alright, Dewey, you’re up then.” Donald told him, and Dewey ran up to the wall.

Donald moved in front of Huey’s line of sight to the mark being made, pressing down on Dewey’s feathers to make the line as precise as possible.

He left out a quiet, “Uh oh,” before he nudged Dewey out of the way. He took his time labeling the marks and adding their age next to each one before he moved out of the way, revealing to a shocked Huey and Louie that Dewey’s mark was not only above Louie’s, but about a centimetre above Huey’s as well.

“Yes! I knew I’d be taller this year!” Dewey shouted victoriously while Huey stared on with a shocked expression.

“Wait- What? How are you taller than me?” Huey shouted. He jumped off his chair, pushing Dewey out of the way to see the marks more clearly. “That doesn’t make any sense!”

“It makes all the sense it has to, I’m taller cause I’m the clearly superior triplet.” Dewey boasted.

“Not that it matters, though, right, Huey? Heights can fluctuate, after all. We’ll probably all be the same height again by our birthdays.” He heard Louie speak up from behind him in a smug voice and he felt his feathers starting to bristle.

“Yeah, I’m sure you can catch up, little bro.” Dewey said in an equally as smug voice as he wrapped his arm around Huey’s shoulders. 

Huey clenched his fists at his side as he tried to remain calm, going stiff as he felt Dewey’s arm around him. He began counting in his head, trying to breath evenly but Dewey often didn’t know when to quit.

“Though, honestly, this is kinda making me wonder if you’re even actually the oldest after all and maybe I actually am. It’d make sense since I’m the tallest now.”

Huey tore his eyes away from the wall, spinning away from Dewey and shrugging off his arm in the process as he fixed his brother with a glare.

“Boys, boys, calm down. You weren’t all always going to be the same height. Your mother was taller than me by the time we were 13.” He took turns ruffling each of their heads, attempting to diffuse the situation.

“Isn’t mom still taller than you, though?” Dewey asked, attempting to fix his hair while holding eye contact with Huey who continued to seethe in his spot.

“Well, yes, but only by a few centimetres.” He informed them before he left the main room of the boathouse.

“Look, I don’t know how you managed this, but I’m going to figure out what you did to grow literally _overnight_.” Huey informed Dewey in a threatening voice before he made to leave. He turned back just briefly to look at Louie. “By the way, I said that to make you feel better, so thanks for throwing it back in my face.” Before he slammed the door to the boat behind him.

Louie turned to Dewey, an unimpressed look on his face. “Remember earlier how I said you were definitely going to regret this?” He asked, while all Dewey could do was look nervous.

––

Huey spent the next day obsessing over how Dewey might have managed to make himself grow taller overnight. Asking Scrooge if he had any magical growing artifacts, or anything of the like. He had tried to reach Gyro as well, but he hadn’t been able to get through any of the three times he called.

A part of him was telling himself to let it go and that Dewey might have actually just gotten taller, but he had a nagging suspicion that they had definitely been at eye level just the day before.

It wasn’t until the next night while he was walking down the hallway to their room did he hear Louie and Dewey speaking to each other just inside.

“I still think I could have used the favour Gyro owed me for something better.” He heard Louie speak and he leaned forwards to hear better without being spotted.

“Yeah, well, you should have thought about that before you broke my camera.” Dewey replied. Huey leaned around the door, seeing Louie sitting on his bed while Dewey fidgeted with something on his leg. He looked back at Louie surprised to see the youngest looking directly at him and quickly moved away from the crack, expecting to be called out any moment.

Instead Louie continued speaking. “He’s going to find out eventually, y’know.”

“Not if I just keep this up forever.” Dewey replied and Huey looked back inside the room just in time to see Dewey remove what looked to be a duck-leg shaped shoe, leaving one of his legs shorter than the other. Huey’s eyes widened as he finally figured out how Dewey had managed to grow taller than him.

He stopped himself from bursting in, however, as Louie made eye contact with him again, just barely shaking his head, so Huey stayed put.

“Why is it so important that he thinks you’re taller than him?” Louie asked, and Huey looked back to Dewey who seemed almost dejected as he thought about his answer.

“He’s better than us at everything. Just once I wanted to be better than him at something, and this is the only thing I could think of that didn’t involve talent, or hard work, or, y’know, actually being better.” Dewey let out a sigh, taking the other shoe off and Huey took that as his queue to enter.

“Is that what you really think?” He asked, and Dewey nearly jumped a mile in the air. He turned quickly and tried to hide the shoes behind his back, but Huey wasn’t paying attention to those. “You think I’m better than you at everything? That’s not true, Dewey.”

Dewey’s surprised expression turned into a frown. “Of course, it is! You’re Mr. Junior Woodchuck, you have badges in everything. You’re better at adventuring, better at music, dancing, sports, school, and every subject at that! You’re a superhero’s sidekick, for crying out loud! You’re better than us at everything! So, I just wanted to have one thing, I just want to be taller, but I can’t even have that.”

Huey frowned at Dewey, taking in his words before his face twisted into confusion. “I’m- I’m good at those things because I try hard and practice, Dewey! Nothing- Nothing comes easy for me! You- Both of you,” He gestured to Louie who had been sitting quietly on the sidelines, “You’re both so talented and creative and imaginative and good at talking to people and making friends and I’m- I’m not. All I have is- is studiousness, and the ability to work hard. I’m not even good at being a big brother because I couldn’t just deal with the fact that one of my brothers was taller than me. I called Gyro three times you know? Now I guess I know why he was avoiding my calls.”

Huey sighed and looked to the floor, blinking his eyes quicker as he felt moisture gathering behind them. “I didn’t know you felt like that, though. And even if I was right, I should have just been okay with being shorter. It’s not a big deal, it wouldn’t change anything, just... being the oldest kind of feels like all I really have sometimes. I just- I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Dewey looked taken aback by Huey’s confessions before he also frowned. “I didn’t know you thought that either.” He took the shoes out from behind his back and dropped them on the floor. “I’m sorry I went through so much just- just to prove I could be better than you at something. I just constantly feel like I’m in your shadow, I didn’t think that you’d have similar feelings.”

“Maybe it’s easier to see good qualities in others than it is to recognize them in yourself.” Louie piped up from the bed, both older brothers turning to him in surprise.

“What?” Dewey asked.

“That’s very insightful, Lou.” Huey commented.

“Don’t act so surprised.” He replied dryly, but there was a smile on his face. “Now are we done with this? We all know out self-worth?” The two older brothers nodded, and Louie leaned back on the bed. “Good, then we should probably go tell Uncle Donald that Dewey cheated, and I slouched so he can remeasure us.”


End file.
